Gripping tool with pivoted jaw and cam actuator



Oct. 16, 1956 F. A. MARBLE 2,766,646

GRIPPING TOOL WITH PIVOTED JAW AND CAM AGTUATOR Filed Sept. 2. 1955 I 3/ L m mm H NIH!!! I \V 23 .37 23/1 3? 6 /3 INVENTOR ATTORNE Y ttes GRIPPING TOOL WITH PIVOTED JAW AND CAM ACTUATOR This invention relates to a novel gripping tool for holding, setting and pushing brads; for holding small pins and work pieces, and for accomplishing piercing, forming and closing operations on work pieces and the like.

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel tool including a pair of gripping jaws only one of which is movable toward and away from the other stationary jaw between closed and open positions, respectively.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tool having a novel actuating means for displacing the movable jaw toward a closed position and which will require a relatively small amount of manually applied force in ratio to the gripping force exerted by the jaws.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tool having novel means for normally maintaining the jaws in an open position ready to engage an article to be gripped therein but which is additionally provided with a novel means for effectively locking the jaws in a closed or partially closed position.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure l is a top plan view of the gripping tool;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view, partly in side elevation, thereof, and

Figures 3, 4 and are enlarged cross sectional views of the tool, taken substantially along planes as indicated by the lines 33, 44 and 5-5, respectively, of Figure 2.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the gripping tool in its entirety and comprising the invention is designated generally 7 and includes an elongated frame, designated generally 8, of channel shape cross section comprising end portions 9 and 10 which are disposed at an angle to one another greater than a right angle. The end portion 9 constitutes the top portion and forward end of the body member or frame 8 and is of inverted channel shape cross section of substantial depth and includes a top wall 11 and corresponding depending side walls 12, as best illustrated in Figure 4. The frame end 10 constitutes a downwardly inclined extension of an inner end of the top frame portion 9 which provides the handle of the tool 7. Said handle 10 is likewise of channel shape cross section and opens downwardly and inwardly. The handle 10 may be widened relative to the top frame portion 9, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 4, to provide a more comfortable handgrip. However, the width of the frame portion 9 may vary substantially depending upon the cross sectional dimensions of the jaw parts, as will hereinafter be described. The handle 10 is likewise prefer ably rounded in cross section, as indicated in Figures 2 and 4 and is provided with an indentation 13 in the uppermost part thereof forming a thumb rest.

The tool 7 includes an elongated lower jaw member 14 and an elongated upper jaw member 15. The jaw member 14 has a rear or shank end 16 which fits rela- 2,756,646 Patented Oct. 16, 1956 tively snug between the lower portions of the side walls 12 of the top frame portion 9 and which is secured immovably thereto, as by a pair of longitudinally spaced rivets or other fastenings 17 which extend transversely through said shank portion 16 and through the walls 12, as best illustrated in Figures 2 and 4. The upper jaw member 15 includes a rear or shank portion 18 which is longer than the shank portion 16 and which is disposed in the upper part of the top frame portion 9, above and spaced from said shank portion 16. The jaw member 15 is pivotally connected to the frame portion 9 by a single rivet or pin 19 which extends loosely through the inner or rear end of its shank portion 18 and which is secured in and extends through the walls 12. The jaw members 14 and 15 extend outwardly through the open forward end 20 of the top frame portion 9 and are provided therebeyond and spaced therefrom with free end portions which may be tapered in width and thickness, as seen at 21. The adjacent faces of the forward end portions 22 and 23 of the jaw members 14 and 15 may be provided with suitable transverse and/ or longitudinal mating ribs or grooves, as seen in Figures 2 and 5, to accommodate the tool 7 to various types of work pieces to be gripped between said jaw faces 22 and 23.

The shank portion 16 is provided with an elongated recessed upper edge portion 24 to accommodate the upwardly and forwardly extending free end of a leaf spring 25 which bears against the bottom edge of the shank portion remote from its pivot 19, for holding the upper jaw member 15 in a raised open position in contact with the underside of the top wall 11 adjacent the open forward end 2% of the frame. The other end of the spring 25 is embedded and anchored in the shank 16 to the rear of said recess 24, as seen in Figure 2. The shank portion 18 likewise has a recessed top portion 26 at the inner or rear end thereof which is spaced from said top wall 11, and which terminates at its forward end in an upwardly and forwardly inclined cam surface 27.

An elongated locking member 28 is disposed in the frame portion 9 between said recessed upper edge 26 and the top wall 11. Said locking member 23 has a wedge shaped forward end portion including a beveled upwardly and forwardly inclined bottom edge 29 which is disposed between the cam surface 27 and the top wall 11 in a retracted position of the lock 28, as seen in Figure 2. The lock 28 has a knurled knob or button 30 fixed to and projecting from the upper edge thereof and which extends upwardly through an elongated opening 31 of the top wall 11. The knob 30 is disposed at the rear end of the opening 31 in the retracted inoperative position of the lock 28, as seen in Figure 2. The lock 28 is provided with an elongated downwardly opening recessed portion 32 to accommodate the free end of a leaf spring 33, the forward end of which is anchored in the body of the lock 28, forwardly of said recess 32. The spring 33 has a portion bearing on the recessed upper edge 26 of the shank 18 for frictionally retaining the lock 28 in different adjusted positions relative to the pivoted jaw member 15, to which it is manually moved by pressure exerted on the knob or button 30.

The bottom edge of the jaw member 14 is provided with a longitudinally rounded recess or transverse groove 34, the longitudinal concave curvature of which diminishes in a direction inwardly of said jaw member 14 and is thereafter reversely or convexly curved, as seen at 35. The recessed portions 34 and 35 are disposed between the open end 20 of the frame 8 and the tapered outer portion 21 of the jaw member 14.

The tool 7 includes an elongated actuating lever 36 of channel shape cross section the forward end of which terminates in a pair of transversely spaced upwardly extending furcations 37. Said furcations 37 are spaced apart a distance to loosely straddle portions of the jaw members 14 and which are disposed between the tapered ends 21 thereof and the open forward end 29 of the frame. Said furcations 37 are pivotally connected to the jaw member 15 by a rivet or other pivot member 33, as best illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. A roller 39 is journaled in the lower portions of the furcations 37 on a pin or rivet 4% which is supported by said furcations, and is disposed to normally seat in the forward end of the recess 34, as seen in Figure 2. The side of the channel shaped actuating lever as is disposed to open toward the open side of the frame 8 and said lever 36 extends rearwardly from the roller 39 and is curved downwardly at its rear end, which is located adjacent the handle 14 to provide a portion 41 which is adapted to be engaged by one or more fingers cf the hand of the operator which engages the handle it The handle portion it? is engaged by the palm of the hand with the thumb engaging the thumb rest 13 and, as previously stated, one or more of the fingers engaging around the finger portion 4i. A gripping action of the fingers will cause the actuating lever 36 to be swung rearwardly and toward the handle lit about its pivot 38 in a counterclockwise direction as seen in Figure 2. However, the lever 36 will primarily fulcrum on the roller 39 which, due to the inward or rearward swinging movement of the furcations 37, will ride from the forward deepest portion of the recess 34 inwardly or to the right with respect to the stationary jaw member 14, and in so moving will travel over the cam surface 35. As cam surface 35 is located at a greater distance from the pivot 38 than the forward deepest portion of the recess 34, a downward pull will thus be exerted on the furcations 37 and on the forward portion of the upper pivoted jaw member 15. Thus, as the actuating lever 36 is moved rearwardly toward the handle 10, the upper jaw member 15 will be swung downwardly about its pivot 19 to displace the jaw face 23 thereof toward the stationary jaw face 22 for gripping an item, not shown, between said jaw faces.

If it is desired to maintain the jaw faces 22 and 23 in a closed position for gripping a work piece and without maintaining pressure on the fingerhold 41, pressure can be exerted on the knob or button 30 for displacing said knob toward the forward or left hand end of the opening 31, as seen in Figures 1 and 2, for thus moving the locking member 23 toward the open end 20 of the frame 8. This movement of the locking member 28 causes the wedge shaped forward end to be displaced forwardly with respect to the cam surface 27 to function as a wedge between said cam surface 27 and the top wall 11 to retain the jaws in a closed position. The jaw 15 may also be forcibly moved to a closed position without operation of the lever 36 by such a forward displacement of the locking member 28. This is accomplished due to the camming engagement of th surface 29 thereof with the surface 27 of the jaw member 15.

It will be understood that the tool may be constructed in various sizes depending upon the type of work for which it is to be utilized, and the shape and size of the jaw portions 21 and jaw faces 22 and 23 may likewise vary substantially as to size, shape and construction to adapt the tool to various uses.

It will be understood that when pressure is released on the fingerhold 41 that the spring 25 will return the movable jaw member 15 to its raised open position of Figure 2, assuming that the lock 23 is in a retracted position as seen in Figure 2. The pressure of the spring 25 in urging the jaw member 15 back to its open position will tend to return the actuating member 36 to its inoperative position of Figure 2, and ordinarily said actuating member 36 will tend to swing by gravity back to its position of Figure 2.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A gripping tool comprising an elongated frame including an elongated forward portion, a lower jaw member havin a rear end fixedly secured to said forward portion, an upper jaw member, means pivotally mounting the rear end of said upper jaw member in the forward portion :of said frame, above and spaced from the lower jaw member, said jaw members having forward end portions extending from the forward end of the frame and provided with coacting jaw faces, spring means interposed between said jaw members and urging said upper jaw member away from the lower jaw member to an open position of the jaws, an actuating lever having an upper and forward end pivotally connected to the upper jaw member forwardly of and adjacent the forward end of said frame, the bottom edge of said lower jaw member being provided with a cam recess, and means carried by said actuating lever and engaging in said cam recess for displacing the upper jaw downwardly and toward the lower jaw when said actuating lever is swung toward the frame,

2. A gripping tool as in claim 1, said frame being of channel shape cross section to define a downwardly and forwardly opening chamber in the forward frame portion in which said rear ends of the jaw members are accommodated, said frame including a downwardly and rearwardly extending rear end portion forming a handle, and said actuating lever having a downwardly curved rear end portion forming a fingerhold disposed adjacent to and movable toward and away from said handle and adapted to be grasped with the handle for swinging the upper jaw member toward a closed position of the jaws.

3. A gripping tool as in claim 2, said upper jaw member having a recessed upper edge portion disposed within said forward frame portion and including an upwardly and forwardly inclined forward end defining a cam surface, a locking member slidably disposed between the upper edge of said recessed portion of the upper jaw member and a top wall of the forward frame portion for movement longitudinally thereof, said top wall having an elongated longitudinally extending opening, a knob fixed to and extending upwardly from the locking member through said opening and adapted to be manually engaged for moving the locldng member longitudinally of the upper jaw member and of said forward frame portion, said locking member having a wedge shaped forward end for coacting engagement with the cam surface of the upper jaw member for retaining said upper jaw member in a downwardly displaced closed position when said locking member is displaced forwardly thereof.

4. A gripping tool as in claim 3, a friction member carried by said locking member for retaining the locking member in either a forward operative locking position or in a rearward inoperative position relative to said upper jaw member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,288,079 McClean Dec. 17, 1918 1,726,624 Lawson Sept. 3, 1929 1,850,664 Daniels Mar. 22, 1932 2,151,871 Riemenschneider Mar. 28, 1939 2,358,800 Fuller Sept. 26, 1944 

